Academic Electronic Journals: Past, Present, and Future - Advances in Computers - page 152

5.1.2 Cost of E-Journals to the Readers
Most early studies in this area concentrated on the economic benefits to the pub-
lisher and ignored the increased cost of e-publishing to the consumer. Regier [46] ,
a director of John Hopkins University Press, studied the economics of electronic pub-
lishing at John Hopkins University and concluded that the cost to provide e-journals
to students and faculty is not necessarily cheaper than p-journals. The cost of
e-journals depends on the quality of the infrastructure, speed of access, depend-
ability, ease of use and the administrative and technological support required to
implement them. For example, Princeton invested an estimated $12 Million in 10
years in its effort to create and maintain the infrastructure required to provide Inter-
net access [17] throughout the campus. Significant portions of that infrastructure are
used to provide scholars and students with access to electronic information.
Three types of hidden costs are related to the implementation of any-time-any
place access afforded by e-journals.
1. The initial cost to create the necessary infrastructure and enable access to
e-journals by readers and by libraries. In addition, on-going expenses are in-
curred to support and maintain the library infrastructure and the long-term
sustainability of the material by the publisher. Libraries may save on real estate
costs by keeping journals electronically, but will incur technology, administra-
tion, and personnel costs.
2. The costs to scholars (and their departments) involved in producing e-journals.
If the scholar and/or their institution edit and perform all the production func-
tions to create a final copy prior to uploading to the server, they, rather than the
publisher, bear these costs. 29
3. The costs accrued by the reader. Readers downloading or reprinting articles
will use their own (or departmental) material, hardware and software.
4. Internet Costs: In addition, a potential cost (mostly outside of the United States)
is the fee charges for use of the Internet. All the economic analyses we have
seen thus far assume that the use of the Internet will remain essentially free,
once setup and connect fees are paid. The future fee structure of the Internet
can change. Although previous proposals in the United States by telephone
companies to charge users on a per unit time or on a bandwidth basis failed,
there is no guarantee that subsequent attempts will also fail. In many countries
around the world (e.g., Israel, France 30 ) and in cybercafés users pay a per-
29 It is unclear if the reduced cost on the library side is equal or greater than the increase cost on the
department/school side. However, these costs are difficult to compare because library costs are separate
from departmental budgets.
30 In 2005, France Télécom, offers dial-up Internet access for € 0.02 per minute without a monthly
service fee or 120 connection hours for € 25 a month.